First edition of Highfields, Hippies and Strippers by Tom Wood. First impression. Medium format hardback in new condition. signed by Tom Wood to title page

About

Having finished studying Fine Art Painting at Leicester Polytechnic, Tom had begun to take photographs in his spare time, whilst working in a community centre in Highfields, Leicester. Nearby was North Evington Working Men's Club, where he would often take portraits of people who went there, and the different events throughout afternoons, evenings and nights.

On his last night in Leicester, Tom was photographing in the Working Men's Club, taking 2 rolls of film with his rolleicord camera during a night of strip tease. A few days later, he attended the Free People's music festival in Oxfordshire, with his camera, where he watched bands and made portraits. Years later when looking at contact prints, he saw both topless strippers and topless hippies sharing the same negative sheet, frames apart. The box was labelled ‘hippies and strippers’ at the time, and they've remained unexplored in his archives ever since.